Refugees at risk of freezing to death in Syria after heavy rains

Sayeed Muhammad of DOT
At least 11,000 refugee families, including a large number of children, are facing a weekend of freezing temperatures with no shelter, after heavy downpours across Syria’s Idlib province damaged tents and belongings. Aid workers warn of a real risk people will simply freeze to death as temperatures have already dropped to -1 degree Celsius, with a shortage of blankets and heating fuel in place, reports The Guardian.
The shelters of Syrian refugees inside Lebanon have also been battered by high winds, rain and snow this week, says UNHCR, adding, 361 sites have been affected.
Camps in the border town of Arsal have been buried in snow, while settlements in the central and west Bekaa areas, where there has been heavy flooding, have experienced even worse damage. It is forecast that rains will begin again last Sunday.
On Thursday, the UN confirmed an eight-year-old Syrian girl died in Lebanon after slipping and falling into a river during the storm.
In north-west Syria, Save the Children is distributing plastic sheeting to displaced families. Caroline Anning, Syria advocacy and communications manager for the charity, said there were cases of babies freezing to death last year, and added that more people are vulnerable this winter.
“The number of people that moved into Idlib over the last year is huge and there is always the risk there will be more,” said Anning.
About half of the 2.9 million people living in Idlib and the surrounding areas are displaced, according to the UN. Children, who make up half of those displaced, have often been forced to move up to seven times and are already in poor health.
In Lebanon, 70,000 refugees, including almost 40,000 children, are at risk of extreme weather, according to UNHCR.